By Book and Blade
by KiritoForReals
Summary: I am taken to an alternate dimension soon after seeing a terrifying image. Will I ever make it home, will I end a civil war over a valuable resource once and for all?
1. Chapter 1: Taken

Chapter 1:

Taken

"Hey! Smarty! GetUpGetUpGetUpGetUp! You're almost late! GET UP!" Teela persistently yells into my left ear.

I take in a big yawn, with the memories of a strange dream briskly fading away.

"Ugh… what? Man, stop calling me that, Teech. You know I don't enjoy that, and you know my real name," I groan with a smirk.

"That's not fair! You said that I couldn't call you by your code name, but _you_ just did to me! Just quit calling me Teech! I'm 14 you know, not _3_ or something!" she snaps back.

My eyes creak open before staring into my sister's frowning face. No one could mistake her with those big blue eyes and blonde pigtails. Wincing at the blinding headlamp, I tuck my face into the soft, warm blanket, savoring sweet slumber. Smarty. Heh. Teela has been taunting that name because I'm a 5.0 student; and almost everyone who knows me is completely aware of my intelligence. Though, there is a sense of irony accompanying this: my memory is not incredible. Wait a minute, did she say I'm late?

"Late_? _Late for what?" I ask, running my hand slowly through my shaggy hair, then leaning on one elbow.

"Hello-o? You there?" she says sarcastically, knocking on my head. "Don't you remember? Oh, yeah, you can't… anyway, that, like, new college or whatever. You're kinda supposed to be there in 20 minutes. So get a move on!"

I draw in a deep breath to sit up. I peek down the hallway to see the television displaying the cover title for Death Note on Netflix. I believe Teela or my mom left it on last night. Trudging to the restroom, I snatch the comb from the floor along the narrow path that runs through a large pile of clothes left in the middle of the hallway. I stare into the mirror and think to myself "That is quite the hair you got there." Bringing the comb to my ghastly white hair, I remember how I was unfortunately diagnosed with the Marie Antoinette syndrome. Dr. Rye wondered if it came to me due to the huge emotional swing of my father's unsolved disappearance. It is reasonable: this condition is caused by immense amounts of stress. I don't recall much of him, because he vanished when I was 7 or something.

At least, that's what my mom says.

Teela, following close behind, nags why I'm "beautifying" myself and not leaving. Huh. It almost seems that she _wants_ me to leave… or she just really cares about my education! :)

After being viciously shoved out the door, I slide into the driver's seat of my blue Saturn and bring my hand to the ignition, but I soon realize "Crap! Forgot my keys!" So I bound out of the car and race up the steps to the doorway, but at the near top of the steps I can sense something. You know when you're sitting in a room by yourself and someone silently creeps in and you can feel their vibe? That is what I'm feeling now, and it's a dangerous one.

Coincidentally, there was an ebony cadillac with blacked-out windows in the corner of my right eye. Right when I was about to forget about it and walk inside, an immense pain pounds into my forehead, and I shout out loud. I can make out a human's silhouette in my shut eyelids. This figure points at someone kneeling on the ground and moans very slowly but clearly

"**You... are... mine."**

My knees are sapped of vitality, and I am forced to drop. Surges of energy soar up and down both forearms, creating the illusion of a slowly depleting blue bar in my left arm. It appears to be filled with a liquid lighted with the relevant color, but with no physical matter, like it's abstract. Speaking of looking, I force my eyes open again to glance towards the car that could be the possible cause of these hallucinations. It's gone.

"_What? Where could it have gone? It couldn't have sped away that fast, in such a compact neighborhood like Hayden!"_ my mind screams in between my ears.

Teela runs up and asks (once again) why I haven't left yet, and why I'm kneeling down, and that I'm 17 so I should be taking responsibility of my successes, so on and so forth. I respond "um… it's nothing" before standing up and striding inside to grab my keys.

"_Geez. I need to get a freakin' grip. Ugh, whatever. Where is this college? Ah, I believe down this street to the Eastern Washington University."_

I pull left onto the street previously stated in my mind. I glance at the speed limit. 50 mph. I follow it. Paranoid from the unusual vision, I peek at the side mirror. Huh? There it is again, the cadillac, speeding behind me.

Suddenly, the silhouettes form in my mind, this time with the person at their knees being pointed at by the standing figure. The standing figure then flexes his finger towards himself, beckoning the kneeling one to join. There is a verbal debate, but unfortunately these visions don't come with and audio input. The person (obviously doubtful due to the time it took him to get up) eventually stands up and joins the figure. I then snap back into reality only to unite the bumper of my car with the solid brick wall of the University.


	2. Chapter 2: Where am I?

Chapter 2:

Where am I?

"Ugh…" is the only thing I can mutter out of my bruised lungs. But I do get a response.

"Ah, so you've finally come to. I can't _believe_ you survived that crash," some blurry girl with a British accent and dark brown hair comments. "Oh, wait… darn. He's out again."

I black out.

Some time after, I awaken, this time without the blur of visual fatigue. I try to sit straight up. A large pain hits me like a punch to the chest. My ribs are supposedly broken.

"_How long will it take me to recover? 6 weeks? Well, I guess I'll just lay on this bed."_

I look over my right shoulder towards the wall. There are framed and professional drawings of anime all over the wall. I look to the left. Again, all anime.

"_Who drew all this? Where am I? An artist's studio?"_

There is a door on the far side of the right wall. A thought shot into my head saying "You must escape!" But I counter my thought "I'm in no condition to do that!" Knowing I'm stuck here, I observe my surroundings with a little more detail. This room is completely empty, besides the drawings and bed. The floor is covered in dust, and the wooden walls and floor appear to be darkened spruce. The rafters are pretty high up, indicating an elevated ceiling.

Wait a minute… In a health class 3 years ago, my class quickly reviewed the skeletal system. I was given the ribs as a subject to present via presentation, and I found out on the Internet that though extremely painful, you can still shuffle about with broken ribs. That seems like the good and only idea.

I roll over to the right edge of the bed and cautiously lower my bare feet to the dusty wood. My blood seeps through the bandages on my leg and runs to the floor. I notice 2 paths of footprints leading from the door to the bed.

"_Hmmm… I'll follow that."_

I oblige. I stumble to the wall, using it as leverage, not putting too much pressure on my torso. It's still harrowing. I reach my hand to the door handle, but I soon find out it's not what is seems to be. It disappears before me. A little weirded out, I push the door open instead. My ears strain against the door's loud creaking. A long hall stretches before me. Along it are mannequins covered in shimmering robes, and paintings of old and probably important people too. Suddenly, a swift wind flows up the hallway towards me, making a whoosh sound. I wonder how that could happen, since the only thing open is the room I just left. Interrupting my thoughts, a large hand claps hard onto my shoulder.

"Ha! Where do you think you're going?" a man's low voice bellows into my ear.

"Woah my god!" I yell and jump forward away from him, turning on a dime. This strange man is wearing a robe that's identical to the ones on the mannequins, though brown. I can't see his face: he's wearing a low hood where shadows conceal his face. All I can see is his mouth. Because I moved too fast, pain strikes and I'm rendered to lean against a mannequin. "Who the hell are you?"

He takes a big stride towards me. "I am Lothuldan, the chief dark mage. Don't you remember me?"

"Get away from me... Where am I... What is this place... Why am I here?" the pain and confusion over exhaust me, and I collapse.

I regain consciousness in a different room this time, and I'm not alone. The same brunette with the British accent is here. She's wearing a long black robe with thick gray lines that run up the arms, splitting direction to the hood and the rest of the body. It's sleeves surprisingly extend only to the forearms. Clasped to her wrists are plated and fingerless gloves that bear symbols of a crest of flame, a lightning bolt, a gale of wind, and what appears to be a patch of sparkles on the dorsum. Each engraving luminates with corresponding colors {red for fire, green for wind, etc.). There's a necklace around her neck, and it's glowing with an orange aura. A flicker of light by her ear indicates that she is also wearing earrings. The fine boots retain silver shinguards.

There is another guy here. He is wearing a leather cuirass with a red and spiked pauldron on the right shoulder. The huge greaves are larger-than-life, and his gauntlets appear to be silver. Though he looks ready for a battle, he wears no head apparel, besides a black headband. The dirty blonde hair he has is spiked.

"Heh, odd outfits," I comment.

"Yeah, you're to judge. Aren't you the new recruit? Well you shouldn't be helping us in any time soon without aid. I'm Myron, and this is Riahn," the blonde person reaches for a handshake, but realizes I'm bleeding out and pulls away. "Never mind. I'll fix that."

Myron reaches towards a small pouch on his side, and when he does, a menu with 6 rows pops up in front of his face. With his other hand, he taps an item named Catharsis. A large steel staff with a blue gem the size of a fist that crowns the top shimmers into view and solidifies. He snatches it out of the air, looks me in the eye, then raises the staff straight up and says "**Catharsis**!"

I start to glow like a light bulb, resulting in the huge gashes on my legs, arms, and forehead to fold over then cease to exist, and the few broken bones I have are now mended. I raise my arms in front of me to witness a small cut close up then vanish.

"Woah!" I exclaim, looking at the palms of my hands, once again noticing the blue bar. "Was that magic? I have to say, that was pretty sick!"

"It seems you have had enough experience with magic to actually know what it is," Myron notices, "I'm surprised. Most of everyone would feint."

"Oh no, not through _actual_ experience. Anyway, I've been wondering: What the heck is this meter?"

"Oh, this?" He pulls off a gauntlet and points at the full bar. "This is the indicator of how much mana, a sort of "cost" for spells, you contain. It it absorbed through a special ore, but this resource is rapidly running low."

"But wouldn't the 'mana' be sorta depleted?

"You've got a knack for these kind of things. If you prefer to not use mana, you may use specific spell tomes or staves, but at the cost of a slot in the limited inventory and a durability point. If you'd like to use mana, you must memorize the same word, but from several other languages, then chant those words in monotone. No inventory cost."

"Seems simple. After all, I'm used to dreams exactly like this."

"What? A dream? No no no no no no, this is no dream. Would you feel pain and not wake up? You're ribs were fractured a minute or two ago."

"So what am I supposed to believe? That magic is real?" As I say this, I sit up and cross my legs.

"Yes."

"And what did you mean by 'new recruit'? Am I being drafted or something? This is crazy…"

"I wouldn't say 'drafted,' but you are the newest mage at Winterlyn."

"Winterlyn?"

"Ok, you are asking WAY too many questions for me to keep up, so I'll go through everything in one fell swoop. Yes, we are in Winterlyn, the lowest of the low in mage capitals. In your dimension, you call this place Greenland. Why would you name this place 'Green'land? It's is so freakin' cold… whatever. Yes, I said another dimension. As I said earlier, the mana resource is getting scarcer and scarcer, and as one would expect, war could break out due to unfair distribution. Well, that is what is happening at this moment, between us, Mecohm and Iceacre. Mecohm is in an island in the Caribbean, while Iceacre is in Antarctica. There are other mage citadels, but they don't even consider using mana, using physical tomes and such. No one wants war, so we try to decide who should go down to using only tomes and staves. But… negotiation is not of the essence, so expect random attacks." Myron takes a deep breath in. "Pheew! Is that good enough? That is the hardest part to new mages!"

"Uh… I guess? So do you expect me to help out in this war?" I stutter in shock.

"That is why you're here," Riahn speaks up for the first time.

I look towards her and respond "I can't do that in a regular sweater and pants. May I use one of those sweet robes in the hallway?"

"Which hall? This is a castle!"

"The one where that weird guy grabbed me! His name was… um..."

"Let me guess: Lothuldan?"

"Yeah! Does he do that often?"

"Of course he does. He is the chief dark mage here, and he loves pranks."

"He said something else too… I think it was 'Don't you remember me?' What does that mean? It's not like I've been here before, right?"

Myron, realizing I've found something out, leans over and whispers something into Riahn's ear, resulting in her gasping and whispering back. They both glance towards me and say at the same time:

"Of course not."


	3. Chapter 3: Geared

Chapter 3:

Gettin' Geared!

"Hey, I found one of those robes you mentioned. Was it the hallway leading from the room of anime?" Raihn asks as she passes a gray robe, a black shirt, and black pants at me. They hit me in the face. I hold the robe by the shoulders, appraising it. There are 2" wide dark gray lines running down the left sleeve, varying in length. A black uplifted collar in the back is lined in gold lace, and below that a hood with similar lines of the sleeve. There are no pockets.

"Oh and take this too. No one is deprived of this," she chucks a leather belt with a pouch attached at my face. I catch it before it connects.

After pulling on the robe, I realize it's a little long. I try the hood on, and measure the sleeves. I clip the belt on, then test the inventory system out. I pick up a rock and touch it to the pouch. It disintegrates, and all the particles disappear into the pouch. I then hold my hand over it. A menu (similar to SAO) appears. A slot named "stone" is there. I tap it. Expectantly, the rock reforms and drops into my hand. It appears that apparel isn't accounted for in the inventory…

"Do I get any other free handouts, like money for supplies?" I beg.

"Ugh… fine. Here's a 1000 gold." She brings up the inventory then picks the amount of gold. She hands the purse over with a frown. "Hurry up and buy something at the Market District."

"YES! Thanks! So I'll buy a sword and a book, then dual wield them!" I start to prance away when Raihn warns, "Dual wielding is difficult! Don't blame me if you screw up!"

At the market, the streets are so crowded that you can't even have 3 feet of space in front of you. I push through the people to only catch a glimpse of each stall, trying to examine what they have for sale. An hour drags by, and I haven't found the blacksmith yet. I look up and yell, "Where is the blacksmith!?"

A buff man in a black apron leans from a building and waves over the people. "Yo! I could help you!"

"Finally…" I sigh with relief.

I shuffle over and enter the shop.

The man introduces himself as Banad, son of Nysdra, and he walks me around the shop.

"So, you're new around here, aren't you?" he bellows with his huge voice.

"Yeah… how do you know?" I reply with uncertainty.

"Oh, I know everyone here in Winterlyn. So are you here for a sword? An axe? Here, let me show you this…" He opens a nearby display case and pulls out a zweihänder that is thin towards the exquisite hilt then widens out into a hollow diamond-shaped end. "Nice, huh? You know what? Take a few test swings. Try it out on the regenerating dummy over there."

I look to what he pointed to. Regenerating? Let's see…

"Ok."

He hands the amazing sword over. It is surprisingly light: only 3 pounds. I stride over to the dummy, holding the greatsword in two hands, left hand on top and left foot forward. I violently lunge at it, running the blade all the way through. I briskly pull it out, swing at the left arm, lopping it off, spin to the left and cleave the torso clean in half, making it fall backward, do another spin move, then rive downward at the neck in midair, cutting the head off. All in 4 seconds.

"Holy crap! Have you done this before!? And you're also a lefty? Wow! Good thing these things repair themselves because you sure did a job on that!" Banad exclaims.

"I don't know- *pant*- what came over- *pant*- me. It's like time slowed down or something. But what I do know is that I am really out of shape."

"Yeah it seems so: I only saw blurs. So, you want to buy?"

"Sure, it's my size. How much?"

"200,000 gold."

"What?" My jaw drops to the ground. "_I don't think Riahn will EVER give me that much…_"

"What do you mean 'what'? How much money do you have?"

"Um… only 1K?"

"How do you expect buying anything here then? That is like a 10 dollar bill in the overworld!"

"Do you have anything that fits in my budget?"

"Nope, sorry. Come again soon!"

When I trudge out of the store with a look of forlorn, I look up from the ground. The streets are completely empty, except for one person. Riahn, and she is smiling.

"Well, I couldn't find anything that I could buy with 10 BUCKS! What do you have to say for yourself! I wanted to buy that sweet sword, but now it's obvious that I can't even buy a spell tome. You can have it back, I'll make my own 1000 pennies!" I go through my menu and select "All gold." The tiny purse appears and I underhand throw it to her. "Funny huh? It seemed like a lot."

The whole time Riahn was holding her breath. Then she bursts out laughing. "You're so cute when you get mad! I can't believe you fell for that! I'm so sorry I wasted your time, I just, couldn't help myself." Her eyes start to water. "But really, new mages start out with a free kit. Let's see… uh… you already got the clothes… here it is." She scrolls down and taps what she was looking for.

A cheap short sword in a leather scabbard and a light green tome shimmer into visibility. She climbs the steps up to me and hands them over. I grab the book in my offhand, testing the grip and balance, then touching it the pouch. I unsheathe the sword. I tap it with my other hand, and a label pops up. "Bronze Sword." Hm. I slide it back into its sheath belt it around my waist after taking a few test swings.

"Thank you. Though there is the fact that you are required to give me this stuff, this still means a lot. So, now what? Do I help and do chores or something? I wanna fight somethi-!" I soon get interrupted.

Suddenly, an immense rumbling ensues, and wide cracks stream down the asphalt road. Everything is crashing, especially the china shop across from Banad's. I stumble and fall on my rear end. A woman runs out from her store and looks skyward, then shrieks "Not again!" and flees. I observe what she was screaming at: the clear blue sky shades into a red tint, and an enormous purple and black portal emerges about 2 miles up. About 100 specks pour out of it and fall to the city. Riahn and I hear screams soon after. She lends a hand to me, and I oblige.


	4. Chapter 4: Invasion

Chapter 4:

First Invasion

Back on my feet, I open my inventory and select the only weapons I have. I tap "wind" (the tome Riahn gave me) and unsheath the sword, but a message pops up with a warning that dual wielding is dangerous and not recommended for those who are inexperienced. "I have to learn someday" I say to myself and tap "dismiss."

I glance over to Riahn as a wicked looking curved longsword materializes in front of her. She grabs it out of the air, after pushing away the menu.

"What is that?" I ask.

"A sword, obviously, but it's named Sol. It has auto-healing capabilities, which means that while I'm holding it, small cuts will mend, but it's running out of uses: only 40 left. After this, I might get it repaired. Now you stay here and wait for Myron. I've already called for him to meet here"

"No!" I grab hold of the sword in my left hand and the book in my right. "I can't just sit here and let you have all the action!"

"I don't think you have any fighting experience with a sword! Or even magic! Now stay put and wait. Do not go anywhere." She dashes off down the street

I have no choice but to sit down on the steps of Banad's shop and listen to the screams, crashing, and people being slaughtered.

I'm marveling at the inventory when 20 minutes drag by, and Myron never shows up. I yawn. "You know what? I'll go help them!" I say to myself. I stand up and jog to where the nearest shriek is let out. A loose fireball is flung in a building, resulting in a huge blaze. As I'm darting between people fleeing and fires, I realize that a singled out person is being chased by a man in thick black and red armor and an even darker hood.

"Here kitty kitty kitty!" he shouts creepily as he brings a huge great axe down on him, killing him instantly. He spots me, the only one standing up to him. He grabs a pocketed handaxe and chucks it at me. I flinch and raise my sword up to block it, when a loud clash of metal rings out. I open my eyes to see that Myron slashed the axe in half, which is at my feet in two.

"Didn't Raihn tell you to wait?" he yells out over all the commotion. "I'll be rid of him…" He sheaths his massive greatsword and withdrawals a beautiful yellow book, then points a finger at the man and shouts "**Thoron**!" A yard-wide cylinder-like bolt of yellow lightning leaves his hand and rushes to the crazy guy, but he isn't so helpless, as he raises a black spell shield to deflect the bolt. It smashes the shield and throws the man off balance. He steadies himself, but Myron is already racing towards him, greatsword at his side. He horizontally slashes and a splash of blood sprays the ground and his blade. The man starts to shake violently and is consumed by darkness, then collapses. Myron kneels down and carefully examines the corpse. He soon pulls up a blood red pendant, and grips it hard.

"These are Thozadagar's men. The madman is the king of Mecohm, which means these guys are possessed mercenaries... C'mon! I might need your help! You know, strength in numbers?" Myron glances back to me, then realizes I have a weapon on the pavement next to each hand. "Look, a sword and shield is fine, but a sword and book? I'm impressed: you may prove to be more than I expected. You even know how to use the tome? Check the label."

I tap the book, and a label appears. "It's called 'wind.' Do I have to say 'wind' when I cast?"

"Not really, I do it for show. Now we move!" He commands with a smile.

Running through the streets, I skid to a stop and spot Banad desperately fist-fighting with a man in black armor. Luckily, Banad has already disarmed him. Banad shouts at me "Hey you! Help!" Thanks to me being a distraction, Banad takes a nasty haymaker to the chin, causing him to fall like a tree. The man grabs his nearby handaxe and ever-so-slowly raises above his head, about to strike Banad.

"NO!" I scream and dart at the guy, sword pointed out in front of me. Time seems to stop down for a second, and I catch a glimpse of a smoldering log falling from a building frozen in mid-air, about to crush some helpless person. Shank! I run him through. Apparently I hit the heart, killing him. Darkness consumes him, putting all his weight on me. "Ugh… get off!" I struggle with his 40 lbs of armor and 250 lb body mass.

"Get off him!" Myron yells and pries him off me, a second hand full of lightning ready to cast in his face, but he realizes he's dead. "Elthund- Oh, never mind. Nice one dude!" He claps my shoulder, and lets the body fall to the ground with a clash.

"Sure." Wow. I killed a man that was probably forced to do this, but he was possessed. "I went completely berserk though, like someone else was inside of me. And everything stopped. It was creepy. And you? How can you deal with this?" I shakily respond.

"You get used to it I guess. This is the 4th raid after all."

"4th!? You must suffer serious losses then! You know what? We should take this out at the source! I'd hate to see another helpless person die."

"Winterlyn does indeed, and we'll work that out as soon as we've eliminated every one of Thozadagar's men here." He strides over and helps Banad up and tells him to not be so reckless and just run.

"Let's do that then. First, we should find Riahn."

"Yeah, so that would make a 4 person party. She is with Ken-bur, an adept fire wizard and an even better wind mage."

He holds his hand outward with the palm up. A map of the immediate vicinity pops up, and two blue dots are slowly moving away from two red ones. "Here we are…" he points to the red dots, "...and here are Riahn and Ken-bur" he points at the blue specks. "They're going north, under where the portal is. We should make haste."

"Ya think? Let's go!" I respond with a sense of urgency.


	5. Chapter 5: Supposed Casualty

Chapter 5:

Mopping up

With our maps open and constantly glancing up to see where we're going, Myron and I race through the streets, mopping up any of Thozadagar's men we come across. I get the practice I need, testing new and creative combos to annihilate them, like bringing my sword down on his left shoulder then spinning on my left side, sheathing my sword over my back, and sending a huge blade of wind at him from behind me, effectively killing him. Every time I did, Myron would congratulate me, then remind himself with harshness that this isn't a game. I guess I've caught on to saying the spell when I cast it...

We finally reach Riahn and Ken-bur, who is wearing similar clothing to mine, but he has his hood pulled over and a few armor plates covering vital areas. "Myron! Over here!" Riahn waves us over, but once she notices me, her look of excitement melts away, "Oh, what are _you_ doing here? You were supposed to stay PUT!"

"Lay off him! I am grateful as this young man is fighting bravely and is proving his valor. Funny thing: he is surprisingly very quick to learn combat." Myron speaks for me.

"Why the formality?" I ask of Myron.

"Ken is fond of proper etiquette, so I try," he whispers to me.

"But Winterlyn is being invaded. Is that enough to act rough and get your hands dirty?" I whisper back.

"Not for him, appare-"

"Hey, focus! No exchanging secrets yet. We have to finish this! I'll call for Lothuldan and Danfrid for backup right away." She goes into her inventory and selects something, and a translucent cellphone forms. After a small and heated conversation, she leads her hand away from her head, the phone disappearing. "They said to keep moving. They'll catch up, so for now let's keep pushing on."

"Who put you in charge? You aren't a higher up… are you?" I protest, wanting to help the civilians being pursued in the alleys.

"Lothuldan is of higher power, so we must follow his orders," she snaps, then turns her back, commanding the rest of the party to follow with a flick of her hand. Myron looks back at me and shrugs, then follows.

"Ok ok, jeez," I comment, then shadow Riahn.

After several encounters and plenty of healing spells, Lothuldan and Danfrid finally approach us. Lothuldan doesn't have his hood pulled over. He has his white hair pulled back into a ponytail, and he has a huge scar that goes over his left eye and down his cheek.

"Well there, you look familiar," Lothuldan smiles and holds his practically-metal hand out for a handshake.

"Um… you too?" I reply and grab his hand, having mine shaken vigorously, throwing me around. I pull back, and my hand is temporarily shrouded in black fog.

"Ha! Sorry: I'm the chief of the dark magic course, so it's practice has left me that," he apologizes, bringing his arm back into his robe.

"Nice... So you're Danfrid?" I look down, drawing my attention to the hooded person smaller than me; and I'm only 6 foot.

"Hey, I'm more dangerous than ya then ya think, you know!" Danfrid shouts in a childlike voice under the hood's concealment.

"What!? How old are you!" I jump back in shock.

"Nine! Why are you so surprised?" he replies, as if I already knew. "Wait a minute…" He pulls his hood off and stares into my eyes with his own huge brown ones. "I don't think I've seen you here before."

"Yeah, I'm kinda new here," I look away and scratch the back of my head. I glance back and his hood is back on. "What's with the hoods always on anyway?"

"Debris is flying everywhere, and the hood provides a small shield. See?" He picks up a small rock and drops it on his own head. Some invisible shield has it bounce off, no harm done. "You should too."

"Ok, but don't think for a second that I enjoy this with half my vision blocked." I turn around and find Lothuldan conversing with Ken-bur, who has his hood off. He looks to be 18 and his hair on the right side is hanging over his face, while the hair on the left is combed back (similar to when Kirito first enters SAO). Ken-bur points at an angle up at the portal. Lothuldan seems to be suggesting something, and Ken-bur agrees via nodding. I stride over.

"So, do we have a plan?" I ask.

"Um… sorta. We (as in the people in charge) have decided to just smash it with our most powerful magic." Lothuldan replies with uncertainty.

"I'm not completely up for it. I've probably got the weakest ma-" then all of a sudden a mini axe flies out of a shadowed area and it slams into the back of Myron's leg. He lets loose a shout of pain and falls over, holding it. A dark vision immediately pounds into my head of a large cremation, and strange enough, everyone there is weeping.

"Myron!" everyone except me and Ken-bur, who noticed I fell over too, shouts and runs over to his aid. Danfrid desperately goes into his inventory and selects a staff named "mend." He raises it up, attempting to heal him, but it seems to not have any effect.

"Wha- what's going on!" Riahn shouts.

"Ha ha ha! No matter how much you try you won't be able to save him! That was covered in an anti-heal poison!" a raspy voice screams from where the axe was thrown. "He'll bleed out soon… Come on boys!"

A 10 man mob sprints from the shadows at us.


	6. Chapter 6: Past

Chapter 6:

A past

(~ indicates a flashback)

"What! What do you mean he's disappeared!? Are you sure, absolutely sure?" My mom Lydia yells at the police officer.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"No," she whispers then drops to her knees and takes her head in her hands, "All he did was *sniff* walk down the street to his school…"

"Madam, please stand up," the officer commands in grief. She obliges. Someone on his radio is talking, so he takes it up to his ear. A look of forlorn falls upon his face. "Um… we have some bad news, they've found Edward… he's dead."

"What! He was attacked? Oh god… what will I do? Teela won't have a dad, and neither will he… Kytes…"

"Ugh… god, my head…" I comment as I slowly open my eyes. My blurred vision can make out gory body bags hanging up from the floor. "Am I upside down?" I hold my hand to my forehead and bring it in front of my face. Covered in blood. Panicking, I try to squirm free. "Wha-" Suddenly, a steel door out of my field of vision creaks and slams shut. I can hear low mumbling, and then footsteps approaching. I hold my breath and shut my eyes airtight, and it shuffles by, bumping me. I swear I almost lose it. I hear a slash, a thud, then the sound of guts spilling everywhere. He snatches whatever he cut in half up and drags it back by me, bumping me again.

"Heh heh, got it!" the man's voice echoes.

"Ok, just bring it back… and hurry: she is getting feisty, heh heh," the other replies.

It leaves behind a slammed door, and I am left alone… as far as I know. I desperately look around, soon realizing that I'm hanging from the ceiling with a crude rope knotted around my ankles. I start to panic again, but I take deep breaths to calm myself down. I glance over at an exceptionally bloody body bag, and I feel the need to vomit. I swallow it down (or up, heh) and see a large knife loosely stuck in the supposed corpse. Thankfully the brutes forgot to tie my hands, so I start to swing towards it, using swinging motions for momentum. Eventually, I grab it then yank it out with a splash of blood. Immediately I do sort of a sit-up then start hacking at the rope. I get through the half-rotten rope quickly then fall on my back with a loud smash.

I'm sitting on the floor upstairs with 3 year old Teela, playing with a few cars, when Mom walks in our room. She takes a shuddering breath then slowly picks us up. She buries her face in us. "Mommy!" Teela makes a big toothy smile then starts hitting Mom's head.

"You two are all I have now…" Mom sobs.

"It's ok mommy," I try to cheer her up, "I'm here." I raise my hands up to her face.

"Thank you, Kytes," she lifts her head up and looks into my green eyes, and tears start to well. She blinks them out, shakes her head, and sets us down in our beds. She says "Have a good night's sleep you two," then smiles and leaves.

A quite crunch awakens me. I yawn and I reach out my hand for my pillow. I bring something hard and solid back: a human skull. "Agh! Get away!" I yell as I skitter away from it. Another few crunches. I look below me and the floor is littered with body parts and skeletons in odd death positions. "Woah my god! Where am I? No… ok Kytes, calm down," I respond to myself and take deep breaths. The room looks completely different while right-side-up, with the unrefined stone and rusted steel slabs as walls that look that they could buckle under the tremendous weight of wherever I'm at. I hear a nasty growl in a far and distant room then a whine that sends shivers up my spine. My heart is thumping so loud that I can hear it. Taking in short and quick-in-succession breaths makes me feel light headed as I recall horror movies I've watched. "_Oh yeah, the knife! Never know when I might need that..." _

I cautiously kneel down and sift through the bodily remains while dodging human corpses with weird orange hives on them. After two minutes I come across it. "_It's a little heavy, but it'll do."_ I reach for my inventory pouch to put it away, but soon discover it's gone! "Crap… at least I've got these crappy rags on." I look down on them. They seem to be worn by someone who was recently slaughtered. "Gross… everything is going wrong."

"Help!" a girl screams in a room that seems to be at the other side of whatever I'm in, then a noisy rattle of chains.

It takes a minute to realize how to respond and that it's Riahn's shriek, "Riahn! I'm coming! Just hold on a little bit! I'll be right there… maybe. Ignore that last part!" I uselessly yell back. My call brings unwanted attention: A huge muscular man covered in entrails and a neck so fatty I can't see his face. He has to bend over to spot me.

"How da fuck did you get loose? Oh well, dis makes it all da more fun! Oh ho, **you are sooo mine**!" he swears with coarse language at the white-haired 17 year old still on his knees, bowie knife in hand and whitened knuckles.


	7. Chapter 7: Treading Forth

Chapter 7:

Treading Forth

I'm temporarily frozen stiff in terror, even as he lumbers towards me, but not for long. I spin on a dime and make a break for a door. When I get to one, I attempt to yank it open, but the rust has decomposed the handle so much that it is completely ripped off. "Crap!" I say to myself. The thing gets frustrated and rushes me. In an act of desperation, I dash behind a nearby body bag and crouch, thinking that the thickness of (supposedly human) flesh and burlap cloth will stop a cleaver of that size. I'm wrong.

"Stop freakin' moving!" he yells in furiosity. He slashes the body vertically vertically in half. Almost immediately he attempts a left swing at my head, but I narrowly juke out opposite the blade is moving, duck under it, and stab the knife through its kneecap, therefor halfway immobilizing him. I do a backwards roll and jump up to my feet, footwork at ready.

"Ugh… stop hitting me!" he blubbers, "Oh, wait: I'm supposed to be mad. Rahhhh!" Again he limp/charges me, and once again I dodge and have no other choice but to bring the knife into the other knee. He stumbles and crashes into large a pile o' bones. Seeing me slowly approaching, he raises his arm in front of his face, and cries, "Just kill me already! Put me out of my misery!" All of a sudden, a thick dark shadow falls upon him. He starts shaking like crazy, and his eyes fade into a red tint. I don't want to take any chances, to I pounce and drive the blade home.

…

I'm just lying there, in my bed, looking at the stickers on my wall, when I hear floorboards creak slow in succession and then a drawer open shortly after. Before investigating, I wait for 5 minutes. Then I finally do. I go to where I heard the person went to last. "Oh, it's just you mommy!" I say when I see her, sitting on her bed next a glowing headlamp. She appears to be holding something. "What's that?" I question when I waddle over.

"Oh, heh, nothing. Just a bracelet I made. Hmmm… I think you should have it." She carefully clasps it on my wrist, says a few things, then a huge flash of light lights up the room for half a second, like a flashbang. When the brightness dissipates, she cranes her neck over to see my new armband. "Hm. Lucky you: read what it says."

I do, and it reads in white bold letters 'Be Strong.'

…

Sliding the knife out of the thing's head, I draw in a huge breath, once again smelling the horrid stench. I look at something on my blooded left arm, where the strange bar is. 'Be Strong' the blue bracelet reads. "Heh, thanks Mom for being with me. But of course, not for real," I correct myself, then look down on the dead beast, spotting a peculiar and familiar pendant. I rip it off its neck, then examine it. "_Hmmm… looks like the one Myron found on one of those psychos. Where is he anyway?" _After a moment of my curious staring, it starts to sizzle, so I take my hand from it and let it drop to the floor. When it clinks off the cold stone, it disintegrates into black ash. "Hm. Strange," I comment.

I then go on the hunt in the room for my supplies. After several door opening attempts, I come across one that is partially open. Suspectedly, I creep in. But unfortunately, it's pitch black. "Feu fajro," I whisper. I use a very minor fire spell that I memorized (I know, surprising) in my spare time to light a nearby unlit torch. My mana depletion is hardly noticeable. Again I stalk inside, and wave my light source around, trying to spot anything that belongs to me. I do some scrounging around, and I scare up my robe laid across a table, which I happily pull on. It has a nice warmth to it that I haven't noticed yet.

"_What is this, hide-and-seek?" _I think to myself as I leave the room. Of course, I didn't leave the room after I found a single proper article of clothing; I searched around a bit more, and found my black pants, black shirt, and heavy boots. "_All I need are my weapons, which are most likely in my pouch, as there are probably even more dangerous and aggressive creatures in what lies ahead, so I'll definitely need them."_ As a measure of assurance, I scan the ground. There is a very thin parting in the bones, seeing the cold stone floor. Allowing that to lead me, I venture on into the ever thickening darkness.

…

"Where is daddy?" I ask in glee of my mom. She takes a deep breath and a sip of her coffee. A slight breeze ruffles the blinds, letting light pour into the living room and onto Mom's down face. She brings her hand to my head and ruffles my black hair.

"Kytes," she takes a deep breath, "He's somewhere happy now, and he won't be coming back anytime soon. Wait, wha-" she takes her hand away from me with a handful of my hair. In shocking response, I touch around my scalp, discovering a bald spot. My hair practically dissolves into my hand.

"Mommy, what's happening to me?" I ask scaredly. I drop the tuft of hair. It sways to and fro, breaking apart into smaller strands, then hits the floor.

"No, this can't be that one syndrome… hey, do you like the color white? You'll have to get used to it."


End file.
